ROCKFORD - Laura Gibbs-Green and Matt Green knew the same people, shopped at the same grocery store and lived a few blocks away from each other in Rockford.

But online dating finally introduced them.

They connected through Match.com nearly seven years ago, emailing first and then talking on the phone. They had been dating for nearly eight months when Matt proposed to Laura on the air at WREX TV studio, where she worked at the time.

In October, they'll celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.

They're one of thousands of couples who've found love through the Web. A third of couples surveyed who were married between 2005 and 2012 met online, according to a 2013 survey by the University of Chicago, Harvard University and Gestalt Research.

More than 600,000 marriages have happened as a direct result of eHarmony matches, according to the company. Online daters have more options than ever today with sites like OKCupid and Tinder gaining popularity and more sites geared toward specific interests such as religion and age.

Laura and Matt were open with people about how they met in 2007, but online dating wasn't as commonplace back then as it is now.

"I don't think it was that taboo," Matt said. "But I think people saw it as 'why can't you just meet somebody the regular way.' ... I told people I was always really shy when it came to approaching girls, so for me, I was much better at expressing myself this way. This was a way for people to get to know me and the things I wanted them know about me."

"I was cautious, but I was open (about starting the relationship online)," Laura said. "I definitely noticed a generational gap, like if told my parents, or maybe people over 40 or 50."

Janna Becherer, a licensed clinical professional counselor, said online dating is a very viable option for people today. She owns Brynwood Relationship Counseling in Rockford and is also a certified Imago therapy relationship counselor. Imago focuses on helping couples work through conflicts.

Couples Becherer works with are already pretty committed, and some don't necessarily tell her if they met online. But others have talked about the online dating experience, including single people who might be recovering from a breakup and looking to regroup and start dating again.

"It has a lot going for it, compared to, say, meeting people in bars," Becherer said. "The hopeful part is that when there are some things that individuals have in common as far as interests and values and beliefs, those can be a nice basis for getting things started."

Page 2 of 2 - A red flag for online dating can be if someone's profile seems to be too good to be true, which is why it's important not to rush into a relationship.

"It's like traditional dating in the sense that you want to make the best first impression, show your good sides," she said. "Take time to get to know each other, to meet the person's friends and family to get a sense of who that person is."

Laura and Matt emailed and then talked on the phone for nearly a month before they met for the first time at a restaurant - a public place - where Matt worked part-time. She was nervous and almost decided not to go.

Both she and Matt had experienced tough breakups and bad online dates.

"I was literally dressed and sitting there not going," Laura recalled. "We had such a great connection that I was so scared that something physical was not going to be there, and I'd be back at square one again."

A friend provided some much needed encouragement for her that night and checked in with her until she arrived at the restaurant. A friend of Matt's had given him some advice for the night: compliment her shoes.

"He made me a cosmo and he said 'nice shoes,' and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm done,'" Laura said

In a good way, that is. They talked for several hours and closed the place down and had their first official date the following week.

The rest, as they say, is history. Matt said he had an inkling early on how things would end up.